Enhancement of the Dispersion of Asphaltenes in Heavy Crude Oil by the Addition of Poly(Butylene Succinic Anhydride)‐based Dispersants

In this work, two sets of dispersants based on poly(butylene succinic anhydride) reacted with various alkylamines and poly(ethyleneamine)s were prepared to enhance the dispersion properties of asphaltenes in heavy crude oil. It was found that the dispersants containing poly(ethyleneamine) moieties showed better dispersion properties than those containing alkylamine moieties. In addition, it was also observed that the dispersion of the asphaltenes was improved by the increase in the length of the ethyleneamine chain. Thus, it was proposed that the functional groups of the dispersant interacted with those of the asphaltenes to form complexes, by which the asphaltene aggregation would be interrupted. Furthermore, the dispersants containing comparable amounts of amide and imide forms exhibited better dispersion, but the dispersants containing salt form showed less effective dispersion. This might be possibly due to the ionic interactions between the salt form dispersants.